Vaqueros win So Cal Regional; Chang is medalist at 147

Carolin Chang shot 2-over 74 on Monday and Vanesa Villa added a 75 as SBCC captured the Southern Cal Regional women's golf title at the Alisal River Course in Solvang.

The Vaqueros lowered their first-round score by three strokes, shooting 319 for a 36-hole total of 641. Citrus was seven shots back at 648 and Canyons took third in the seven-team field at 667. Those three teams finished 1-2-3 in the Western State Conference.

SBCC and Citrus advanced to the State Championships, which will take place on Nov. 15-16 at Morro Bay Golf Course.

Chang won the Southern Cal individual title at 3-over 147. She tied Jamie Lopez (73-74) of Citrus, then won a scorecard playoff thanks to a 2-under 34 on the back nine that was two better than Lopez. Chang had three birdies on Monday and a couple of adventurous holes.

"I had three birdies but I also lost a ball in the short grass that I couldn't believe we couldn't find and I had a penalty for hitting in the hazard," said Chang, who's been playing golf for 10 years and came to the U.S. to attend SBCC after visiting here and seeing that SBCC was the No. 1 Community College in the nation. "We have a good team and I think we can win the State."

Villa, the only sophomore on the squad, shot 75 and posted the fifth-best score at 155. Teammate Isabella Doub shot 170 and Danielle Picard, the No. 6 player, shot 172 with a final-round 82, her best score in more than two months.

"It was a lot better than yesterday because I didn't have any three-putts," said Villa, who played on the Vaqueros' state championship team in 2013. "I made a lot more putts. I missed a few birdies that I should have made.

"I think we can win State again. We have some really good players that shoot pretty low and our other players are pretty good too, often shooting in the 80s."

Brittany Bilek of Palomar had a hole-in-one on the 128-yard 12th hole.

The Vaqueros shot 319 on Monday in perfect conditions. Canyons totaled 328 and Citrus shot 330.

"It feels extremely good to be the Southern Cal champs," said 16th-year head coach Chuck Melendez. "We came back today and played pretty well. Typically, you have a few who don't play well and the rest of the team picked them up today which was fabulous. Our depth has made a big difference this year.

"Carolin has carried us all year. She's a fabulous player and on top of that, she's a fabulous person. Vanesa is a great player who was injured and she's starting to get her game back at just the right time."

Reedley (629) and Sierra (650) will represent Northern California in the State Final Four.

State Championship Tee Times on Nov. 15-16

Southern Cal Regional
Final round
At par-72 Alisal River GC
 Team – 1, SBCC 322-319--641. 2, Citrus 318-330--648. 3, Canyons 339-328--667. 4, Palomar 339-345--684. 5, Desert 351-334--685. 6, Mt. SAC 335-351--686. 7, Irvine Valley 356-339--695.
 Medalist – 1, Carolin Chang, SBCC, 73-74--147 (won scorecard playoff). 2, Jamie Lopez, Citrus, 73-74--147. 3, Lexandra So, Citrus, 72-76--148.
 SBCC scores – 1, Chang 73-74--147. 4, Vanesa Villa 80-75--155, Isabella Doub 82-88--170, Danielle Picard 90-82—172, Natalya Cruz 87-90—177, Miraya Ramirez 91-88--179.
 SBCC overall record – 77-6.